Volume 18 | Issue 18 | May 3, 2023

News for Advocates of Children, Youth, and Older Adults from Generations United

Seniors in Service of Tampa Bay, Inc. Health Buddies is an innovative, intergenerational model that helps older adults and adults with disabilities who struggle with chronic conditions by matching them with a Health Buddy. The mission of Health Buddies, a Generations United Program of Distinction, is to foster interaction between different generations, sharing skills/life experiences and building relationships that benefit both individuals and community. Health Buddies are college students preparing for health careers who offer “companionship as medicine” through supportive phone calls to improve social connection, health knowledge and ability to age-in-place. After 12-weeks, clients who still need support get ongoing telephone reassurance; in-home companionship; and/or referred for other community resources. Health Buddies is a scalable, equitable, cost-effective way to promote aging in place while developing our next generation of aging services and health professionals. Learn more.

Each week, Generations United is spotlighting a recipient of our Intergenerational Program Certification. The certification is an annual recognition of outstanding programs bringing older and younger participants together and is based on rigorous standards of program effectiveness and sustainability. Learn more about the Intergenerational Program Certification here.

The Yield Giving Open Call is a $250 million open call focused on elevating organizations working with people and in places experiencing the greatest need in the United States: communities, individuals, and families with access to the fewest foundational resources and opportunities. This initiative will award unrestricted gifts of $1 million each to 250 organizations. This Open Call seeks community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles. Organizations best suited to this initiative will enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources. Interested organizations must register to apply before 4 p.m. U.S. Central Time on Friday, May 5, 2023. Learn more.

The Allstate Foundation: Racial Equity Grantmaking program provides support to nonprofit organizations in the U.S. The current request for proposals addresses inclusive economic opportunity, with a focus on the following areas: 1) racial equity and inclusivity in the green economy, including career pathways and pipelines; 2) racial equity and inclusivity in implementation of projects and programs related to the American Rescue Plan and American Jobs Plan; and 3) worker-centric policies and opportunities for frontline and essential workers with a racial equity and inclusivity lens. The Foundation expects to award a total of ten grants of $100,000 each. Phase 1 pre-applications are due May 12, 2023. Visit the request for proposal website to take the eligibility quiz and submit a pre-application. Learn more.

Administration for Community Living Lifespan Respite Care Program: State Program Enhancement Grants. Applicants to this funding opportunity will propose approaches grounded in the principles and actions of the strategy to make advancements in and strengthen their Lifespan Respite Care systems. Grantees will be expected to build on previous efforts to improve equitable access, consistency, quality, and sustainability and reduce duplication in respite service delivery. Additionally, grantees will be expected to provide respite services, continue building collaborations and partnerships across the state, expand options for volunteers, ensure adequate respite provider training is offered, identify gaps in current services and conduct outreach to reduce those gaps, and continue to, or increase, efforts to target underserved populations across the lifespan. Due date for applications: May 15, 2023, 11:59 PM ET. Learn more.

Administration for Community Living Lifespan Respite Care Program: Grants to New States and States Re-Establishing Their Core Respite Infrastructures. Applicants to this funding opportunity will propose approaches to, at a minimum, establish or re-establish state and local coordinated Lifespan Respite Care systems to serve family caregivers regardless of the age, disability, or chronic condition of the care recipient. Applicants will also be expected to propose how they will develop or expand new and emergency respite services and provide such services; train and recruit respite workers, including volunteers; and assist caregivers in gaining access to respite care services that meet the needs of both the caregiver and care recipient. Due date for applications: May 15, 2023, 11:59 PM ET. Learn more.

The MIT AgeLab’s Opportunities for Multigenerational Exchange, Growth and Action (OMEGA) initiative is proud to offer five scholarships to recognize the efforts that teens are making to create multigenerational connections. Each award will include a $5000 college scholarship to the winning student and $1000 to the winning student’s intergenerational initiative to support its activities. High school juniors and seniors in the U.S. are eligible to apply. Applications are due May 31, 2023. Learn more.

The Herb Block Foundation: Encouraging Citizen Involvement. The Herb Block Foundation is committed to defending basic freedoms, combating all forms of discrimination and prejudice, and improving the condition of the poor and underprivileged in the United States. The Foundation’s Encouraging Citizen Involvement grant program provides support to nonprofit organizations nationally with the aim of helping to ensure a responsible, responsive democratic government through citizen involvement. Grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 support projects focused on citizen education and greater voter participation in the electoral process. All projects must be nonpartisan and may not involve lobbying for specific legislation or candidates. Letters of inquiry are due June 1, 2023. Learn more.

The Brookdale Foundation Group Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the creation or expansion of supportive services to grandparents and other relatives raising children. A seed grant of $30,000 ($20,000 in year one and $10,000 tier two, contingent upon progress made during year one and potential for continuity in the future) is available to non-profit organizations across the United States. On-going technical assistance will be provided. Proposals are due June 22, 2023. Learn more.

NEW: Administration for Community Living: Advancing Aging Network Capacity to Recognize and Support Family, Kinship and Tribal Caregivers. Using the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers (the Strategy) as a road map, ACL will fund up to five (5) new cooperative agreements to eligible entities to work on a national level to further advance the development of state, community and tribal family caregiver support programs funded under the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP), Title III-E and VI-C of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended. This new initiative is intended to advance NFCSP/NACSP development to more closely align it with the principles and concepts contained in the Strategy, thus better positioning the program to more effectively recognize, assist, includes, support and engage family caregivers and better meet the challenges and opportunities associated with supporting them. Five (5), four-year cooperative agreements, to eligible entities and their partners to develop, test, and disseminate new approaches for technical assistance, capacity building and other best practices in family caregiver support will be awarded. One (1) grant will be awarded in each of the five Priority/Goals in the Strategy: (1) increasing awareness and outreach; (2) advancing partnerships and engagement with care teams; (3) advancing services and supports; (4) strengthening financial and workplace security; and (5) solidifying a family caregiver national research and data collection agenda. No entity will receive more than one grant under this new initiative. Applicants to each priority area should be those well-positioned and with the requisite experience and capacity to address the respective issues and foster national advancements in those areas. Closing date for applications is June 25, 2023. Learn more.

If you have—or know of—any intergenerational funding opportunities, please send them to gu@gu.org.

Journal of Intergenerational Relationships Call for Papers for Memorial Issue Honoring Founding Editor Dr. Sally Newman’s Contributions to the Intergenerational Field: Dr. Sally Newman was a guiding force for founding the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships in 2003, serving as its first editor until June 2014. Despite her death in 2022, Dr. Newman’s legacy lives on. In honor of Dr. Newman’s leadership in intergenerational program research, the Journal of Intergenerational Relationships invites scholarly contributions for a special issue focused on contemporary intergenerational research that builds on her foundational work, which can be seen today in different programmatic settings and countries. This special memorial issue will be published in 2024. Submissions must be received by May 31, 2023. Read the full special issue announcement here. Contact Shannon Jarrott with questions.

"Intergenerational Community Planning" Report: Generations United Senior Fellow Irv Katz and Generations United friend and Penn State professor Matt Kaplan, PhD, collaborated on a "guide" to intergenerational community planning published by the American Planning Association (APA). The intergenerational planning guide follows related APA reports on multigenerational planning and planning for all ages. The document suggests that the well-being of children, youth, and older adults--and how they relate with one another--should be integrated into regular city planning processes, such as the comprehensive planning that most cities and towns undertake. "Intergenerational Community Planning" is available for free to members of the American Planning Association and $25 for non-members.

"At Shorewood, we’re with people our own age all the time, so it’s nice just to be able to have a connection with the young person’s world and see things [through] their eyes."

Chuck Nelson, a retired teacher at the Shorewood Senior Campus and participant in a Pen Pals program with the Folwell Elementary School.

We want Generations This Week to be a resource for you. Please send us any national news on intergenerational issues in addition to upcoming conferences, funding opportunities, research, reports, and webinars. You can connect with other intergenerational enthusiasts through our Facebook group. Please also let us know how we can improve! Email us at gu@gu.org. We'd love to hear from you!